Saudi Arabia appoints first Iraq envoy in 22 years

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Saudi Arabia appointed an ambassador to Iraq in a move to re-establish full diplomatic relations for the first time since the former Iraqi president invaded Kuwait in 1990, Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zebari said. “The government of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud decided on Feb.19 to name Fahd bin Abdulmohsin al-Zayd, the kingdom’s accredited ambassador to Jordan, as its non-resident ambassador to Iraq so as to enhance good ties binding the two brotherly countries,” according to an Iraqi Foreign Ministry statement received by IraqiNews.com news agency. Ambassador Zayd will present his credentials to the Iraqi government later, it added. Saudi Arabia had announced plans to re-open its embassy to Iraq but delayed the move due to deteriorating security conditions in Iraq. Iraq had re-opened its embassy in Riyadh in 2007 for the first time since it closed it down in December 1990. “We will accept and we certainly welcome” the presentation of “the Saudi ambassador in Amman’s credentials as non-resident ambassador” to Iraq, Zebari had told AFP. It is “a very positive sign…for the normalization of relations” between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, he said.